Dear Elections Ontario,
What I’m about to write will probably scupper the job application I sent you a few weeks ago for the election training position. But I have to speak up.
Just got off the phone with a nice, helpful person (NHP) at Service Canada who facilitated my changing an Employment Insurance Report I filed that included the by-election day I worked for you at the beginning of February. You remember, the Toronto Centre by-election that attracted so much media attention?
I’ve had to go through this twice now thanks to you, which is why I’m writing. From my first conversation with your staffer who invited me to a training session, I tried to find out the pay for the election day and the training day. I knew I would need this information before the cheque arrived, to file an accurate report with EI.
To say that your staff, then and later, was evasive would be an understatement. Responses ranged from “Oh, I’m not sure exactly,” to “I’ll have to find out,” to changing the subject. A couple of times I was referred to “the website,” and I tried in vain to locate pay rates for extended staff on the Elections Ontario site.
In contrast to the Employment Insurance personnel, these people were nice but NOT helpful.
But one day I thought of e-laws, the provincial site on which all provincial statutes and their regulations may be found. I looked up the Elections Act, and its regulations, and found a pay rate that included $175 for the election day for a Deputy Returning Officer, which was the role I was assigned. (It’s a fun role, you are in charge of one little table, a stack of ballots, one ballot box and, I guess technically, one poll clerk.)
So when my cheque arrived not long after the election, and it showed a payment of $196.04 for election day, I had mixed feelings. I was glad to get a bit more money than I expected, but not happy that I would have to amend the EI report I had already filed using the $175 figure. I had already amended the report for the period of the training day.
So it’s no wonder I put it off a bit. However today I had everything I needed. I was on the Service Canada site filing a report, I had the cheque “stub” handy and the Saturday phone number to speak to someone about reporting issues, all at hand. As I poked around the website I realized that the higher dollar figure was going to put me over the threshold of allowable earnings for that reporting period.
I would have to pay some money back. Sheesh!
And indeed, the NHP confirmed this was true. I will be receiving a letter requesting payment, but I was told that in fact, the amount (about $20) will be deducted over a couple of future payments, so I should ignore the letter’s threat to throw me in jail if I don’t pay immediately.
A stint in debtors’ prison would hamper my job search considerably, so I was glad to have some advice around that.
Now, getting back to my application for training people who apply to be election day staff,…I would take an NHP approach, and I think this would distinguish my work from some others.
Don’t you?
